AN INTRO TO

Plain Language

An introductory guide to Plain Language:

Building Results

Instructor: Frances Peck

The Foundation for Administrative Justice

A Publication of

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Table ofContents

1—Introduction

2—Featured Course: Plain Language

3—Course Description

4—Testimonials

5—Conclusion (Free tool download!)

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Introduction

What is the Foundation of Administrative

Justice?

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The Foundation of Administrative Justice

We are a nonprofit training organization that helps agencies, boards, and commissions educate their members and staff. Course participants include members of adjudication boards, unions, professional disciplinary panels, First Nations, and other administrative justice tribunals, along with their administrative staff.

Our training results in:

• better written and well-timed decisions

• fewer appeals to the higher courts

• decreased organizational costs

These results fit perfectly with the goals of our Plain Language: Building Results course.

Why do we care about plain language?

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Plain Language: Building

Results

Instructor: Frances Peck

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Plain Language: Building ResultsWhich do you prefer?

A. To read a document slowly and with difficulty, stopping to reread confusing parts, and reach the end unsure of what the message is.

B. To read a document quickly and easily and to know, by the end, exactly what the message is and what you’re supposed to do about it.

Chances are, you picked B. Not many people enjoy working hard to understand what they read. That’s why plain language is a such a popular and successful approach to writing.

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What is plain language?

Plain language has a simple goal: to help readers find, understand, and use the main messages in a document.

The more complex the messages are—and in the world of administrative justice, they can be quite complex—the more plain language helps. But even short, straightforward documents, like emails, letters and summaries, benefit from plain language.

Plain language is partly about using familiar, everyday words. It’s also about making sure the main ideas are easy to find and the material is laid out in a reader-friendly way.

Why use plain language?

It saves time and money. Study after study shows that when readers understand what they read, organizations spend less time—and money—on clarifications, follow-ups, appeals, and damage control.

What’s more, plain language gets results. When a document is easy to read, readers have more mental resources available to pay attention to the content.

But perhaps the most important reason to use plain language is that being able to understand what we read is a matter of human rights. “If we cannot understand our rights,” said the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, “we have no rights.”

The basics of plain language

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Who benefits from plain language?

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Your readers do. And so do you. Plain language is like a broom. It sweeps the clutter from documents and clears the path for transparent two-way communication. Every time you write a plain language document, you’re telling readers that you care about their time and their rights—and about them.

Frances Peck, MA (English), Certified Professional Editor (Hon.), and partner with West Coast Editorial Associates, is an editor, writer, and instructor with over 25 years’ experience. As a plain language specialist, she has worked with hundreds of clients from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

Frances has taught at the University of Ottawa, Simon Fraser University, Douglas College, and the University of British Columbia. She is a member of Editors Canada and Plain Language International.

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““If we cannot understand our rights, we have no rights.”

—The Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin

“Plain Language: Building Results is a one-day course that will help participants write documents—ranging from decisions, opinions, and reports to applications, commencing documents, and emails—that are easy for their audiences to read, understand, and use.

The course will present practical techniques for streamlining the writing process, determining content and structure, highlighting key messages, cutting wordiness, reducing ambiguity, and generally getting the message across. Participants will learn through examples, exercises, and before-and-after excerpts.

This course qualifies for the Certificate in Tribunal Administrative Justice™ (CTAJ™). (7 Professional Education Hours)

Course description3

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Testimonials

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“As a result, [of FOAJ training] we’ve reduced our decision from approximately 30 pages down to 10 or under. Through the implementation of much of our training, we’ve been able to reduce hearing to decision release time from a high of 272 days in 2012 to 45 days in 2018.”

-Saskatchewan Municipal Board

“I am currently drafting decision documents and a tech manual, these are quite different, this course covered ideas for both.”

“Frances is a great instructor – personable, very friendly and the materials are great.”

“You are an excellent facilitator – clearly know your subject and have read widely.”

-Anonymous comments about Plain Language: Building Results course

About the Foundation of Administrative Justice.

Here is what previous participants said about the course.

Visit our site and download a free tool to help you with plain language.

Find tool HERE!

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